Quest For Pudding
by InfinitexJester
Summary: Kyoko and Sayaka centric - set after Sayaka becomes a mahou shoujo. Romance growing between the two. Started as a short fluff piece but chose to extend it. Written for Drachryn.
1. Chapter 1

The diner was full to bursting when Sayaka arrived and she frowned a little. Her eyes scanned the crowd, looking for a free table. She knew it had been a bad idea to come without Madoka or Hitomi but her craving for strawberry shortcake was always her undoing. She'd dragged Kyousuke halfway around a village once on a school trip to get some. Finally, her blue eyes settled on a girl sat alone on a window table, surface top littered with empty plates.

Her eyes narrowed a little as she recognised Kyoko. Of course, this was the new mahou shoujo in town. Already she'd got off to a bumpy start, fighting with Sayaka over a witch hunt. Her fingers clenched slightly on her soul gem but then let go with a shrug of her shoulders she made her way to the redhead's laden table. Hell, she wasn't going to be scared away by the competition. Just because Kyoko had more experience than her, didn't mean she was _better. _And this was _Sayaka's _territory now, not hers. She owed it to Mami to keep going in her stead. Besides that was the duty of a magical girl, or so Kyubey told her.

Kyoko looked up lazily as Sayaka approached, not even pausing in her eating. Sayaka's eyes widened as she counted the plates.

"How can you eat so many!?" She blurted out.

Kyoko slowly stopped chewing and wrinkled her nose.

"Hey, I'm keeping my strength up!" She eyed Sayaka meaningfully. "You'd do well to do the same – you're a scrawny little thing!"

Sayaka reacted with predictable outrage.

"I'm not scrawny! I'm just..."

She trailed off as Kyoko took another bite of apple pie, her attention once more lost. She tapped the table impatiently. Kyoko looked up again, a flickering of eyelashes.

"Oh, you're still here? Haven't you got a witch to be catching or something?" She eyed Sayaka's clothing with a slight sneer. "Or s_chool, _even?"

Sayaka coloured.

"I've got a free lesson if you _must _know. And this is where I usually eat but-"

Kyoko appeared to have caught her meaning, grinning with sharp white teeth.

"Oh! I see... nowhere to sit, huh? That's tough. Well, as I'm feeling so gracious today – you can share my table. Just don't touch my food."

Sayaka's eye's widened. Had she really heard that right? She had thought it would have been a lot more difficult to convince her. Kyoko raised an eyebrow expectantly.

"Well?"

Sayaka hastily took a seat opposite the other girl, typing her order into the inbuilt computer set into the table.

"Er... thanks, I guess," She murmured.

"Can it. We're still rivals, remember? Even though you're so new to this to call you so is practically laughable. But... even enemies can work together in times of peace. If the situation calls for it."

Sayaka pursed her lips at that.

"Isn't an enemy always an enemy? Witches never turn good, do they?"

"Acting smart doesn't suit you, Sayaka. You're much cuter when you keep your mouth shut."

Sayaka wasn't sure what to say to that but as luck would have it, her pudding arrived at that moment. Kyoko appeared to have finished her last plate too and Sayaka smiled. She'd have the table to herself soon enough. But, as she took the first bite of her pudding, sucking the spoon; she noticed Kyoko hadn't moved. Was instead sitting, watching her with hands steepled under her chin.

"What?" She spluttered with her mouth full.

Slender fingers reached out and Sayaka froze, spoon still fixed in her mouth. For a second, she though Kyoko was going to touch her and she tensed, heart thudding in her chest. From fear or shock or-?

Kyoko laughed and she plucked the strawberry from the top of Sayaka's pudding, popping it lightly in her mouth.

"Be seeing ya, newbie! Entertain me again next fight, won't ya?"

She'd gone before Sayaka could protest, a flash of red hair marking her derparture. Sayaka swallowed, finally placing the spoon back down, realising just how very foolish she must look.

Suddenly her pudding didn't seem so important anymore.


	2. Chapter 2

The church was so cold, Sayaka found it hard to believe anyone could live here. Yet, hadn't Kyoko brought her to this place before and hadn't it been obvious then that it was in this abandoned place she hid? Kyoko perhaps, would have laughed if Sayaka had told her she thought the other girl was hiding here. But why else would someone shut themselves up in such an isolated building?

A quick touch to her soul gem and the locks on the door clanged open. She walked in briskly – more confident perhaps than she felt. Why was she here again? It was hard to admit that maybe, yes... perhaps she was simply curious about Kyoko. Well, frustrated was perhaps a better word.

Sayaka almost didn't recognise Kyoko at first, sitting casually on the alter and bathed in the light refracted through the stain glass. It made strange shapes appear around the room, lending the church an overworldly atmosphere. But this wasn't a witch's domain, just that of a mahou shoujo.

"Could at least knock first," Kyoko said, a pocky stick firmly held between her sharp teeth. Sayaka didn't say anything, her hands clenching and unclenching. Kyoko stretched and rummaged around in the bag by her side, producing an apple. "You know, you can't get Sanctuary here. This isn't that type of church."

Sayaka's eyebrows twitched at that. "I wasn't _looking _for sanctuary, idiot."

Kyoko threw the apple at her and she caught it instinctively; holding it loose in the palm of her hand. She looked quizzically at the other girl, whose lips curled in a smile.

"Because I spoiled your pudding the other day. So, why exactly are you here, anyway? Got bored of that friend of yours? What was her name again?"

"Madoka."

"Kyoko waved her arm in the air contempously. "Whatever. I'm not going to be your friend anyway if that's what you're looking for. I don't have friends."

Sayaka blazed. "I don't _want_ to be your friend! I just..." She trailed off, unsure how to finish. The apple felt warm on her skin and she rolled it back and forth. She heard a faint sound of movement and then looked up to see Kyoko was closer, one hand resting loosely on her hip.

"Go on then, spit it out! You're here anyway now and I don't feel like fighting right now. You may as well tell me about it."

Sayaka laughed harshly. "This is stupid. I don't even know why I came."

Kyoko raised an eyebrow and broke the stick in half; a resounding snap echoing in the church. "I know why you came. Because you need someone else to talk to who can understand, right? Someone who is also a magical girl. That's why you couldn't go to your little friend. And that Homura is too morbid to confide in. Only natural – I'm the only one left, huh?"

Sayaka blinked. How had Kyoko figured that out so fast? That, even though Sayaka had made the contract, even though she should have been happy with her choice and her sacrifice... she just felt lost?

Her voice was tremulous as she spoke. "Does it get better?"

Kyoko frowned and for once seemed disinterested in food, throwing the rest of the stick away. "The pain doesn't end just because a miracle happened. Sometimes it just gets worse. If Kyubey told you the life of a magical girl was easy, Sayaka, then he lied."

"I don't want it to be easy!" Sayaka exclaimed. "I knew it would be dangerous. I saw... I saw what happened to Mami..." Her voice choked at that but she went on anyway. "But, I thought I would feel good about it, about protecting others. But I don't. I just feel empty, like I've lost something. Did Mami feel like that? Do you?"

Kyoko gave her a wry look. "Why do you think I eat all the time?"


End file.
